Lost in the Spotlight
by Sakura-chan88
Summary: Rated for Language and Violence Kohaku is the worlds little hero and he knows it. He'll do anything for the spotlight- but when he gets kidnapped... Sango will do anything to save him no camera's involved...


**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and this is the last time I will tell you, okay? So get it ingrained in that brain of yours!**   
I have got the time to finally post my newest story idea and I took the time to type it at last! I hope this one gathers as many satisfied readers as my others. A fair warning to you all, though, my updating will most likely NOT be consistent, but frequent - or maybe not so frequent with all of those other stories I have, but I'll try for at least one chapter a month! Please give this story a chance, even with the already warned about lapses in updates!   
Well, without further rambling, let's begin! Enjoy, and please take a few seconds to review after the chapter to voice your thoughts! ^-^   
  


**~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~**   
_Lost in the Spotlight_   
Don't Want to Let Go   
**~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~**

  
  
She sighed, watching her brother successfully win the heart of the Tokyo with a single swing of the bat. Thirteen years old and he had every reporter knocking at their door for an interview with the Wonder Boy. He was always in the spotlight while she stood on the sidelines, watching him grow distant each day, further and further from her life.   
  
He meant the world to her, especially with their parents dead and gone, assassinated in broad daylight, leaving the Wakuso Mall. It was all over the news. Her and her brother on the front page of every newspaper had started it all- the distancing of siblings. She hated being the center of attention; he did everything in his power to stay on top.   
  
They had a horrible fight over it earlier that morning. The worst they had argued in weeks. He was being ridiculous, though.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~   
_"I'm leaving school," he stated calmly, drinking from his morning tea. "I'm quitting so I can work."   
  
"Forget it," she muttered, placing her dish in the sink. "You aren't leaving school, not as long as I'm around."   
  
"I am leaving school and working with Souten," he snapped. "We're starting our own business in Kyoto."   
  
Souten was another of his publicity stunts. She didn't know that, though; Souten truly believed Kohaku and her were friends... Souten was the young sister of Hiten and Manten, known to many as the Thunder Brothers... The ones convicted and executed for murdering his parents. Kohaku had 'forgiven the innocent girl of her brothers dastardly deeds'.   
  
The news loved it, and Souten fell for it.   
  
"You are only thirteen, Kohaku!" she shouted, spinning around to face her brother. "You think you know everything, that you're an adult, just because everyone knows you... You couldn't be more wrong! You aren't leaving that school until you've graduated!"   
  
"I am, and you aren't stopping me!" He slammed his glass down, shattering it. "You aren't my mother! You are not Father! You don't own me!"   
  
"Kohaku-"   
  
"I don't care what you say!"   
  
"Listen to me, Kohaku! I'm your only family and I have to look out for you! That's what I'm doing," she finished, her voice softening. "I'm just looking out for you."   
  
She watched as he looked at her, his eyes burning with submerged anger. His face darkened, his head bowing. He pushed himself away from the table and stood up slowly, walking to the doorway. Placing one hand on the doorframe, he glanced over his shoulder to look in her eyes.   
  
"I have no family."   
  
He left her standing at the counter to take in his saddened, almost ghostly, whisper. A single tear fell from her eye as she moved to clean up the mess left in his wake.   
  
"Kohaku..."_   
~~~~~~~~~~   
  
Sango listened to the applause, shaking her head. He'd do anything for attention, even if it meant leaving school and starting a business with Souten. She shuttered at the similarity, yet biggest difference, between Souten and herself. He didn't care for Souten, but had her believing he did. He didn't care for Sango and tried his best to make her see that- and feel the same way.   
  
Yet, she still cared.   
  
Somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind, an area Sango wished he'd one day visit and put everything to rest, she knew there was a small light that called out to her. He needed her as much as she needed him. He was all that kept her going.   
  
With all of the hurtful words uttered from him, she was surprised he could stand in front of a camera and hug her and cry like he did every time something 'important' to him came up and the media caught wind of it. What surprised her even more was the feeling stirring inside of her...   
  
She wanted to be allowed to vent her anger, the anger he pushed into her. She wanted to hold back the love and hide it from him and distance herself to stop from being heart broken as much as she was. She wanted to curse him as a fool to his face, to yell, to shout, to scream. To not care anymore.   
  
Yet, she still cheered as his foot hit home plate.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


^-^

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He looked up into the throng of cheering people seated in the bleachers as he worked his way through the crowd of players to get to the dugout. His eyes found their target.   
  
A young woman with dark brown hair and fair skin stood in the stands, looking down at him. Her eyes were alive, but dull. Over all those years, he expected to see no life in them at all, but a faint glow still existed.   
  
"Sango..." he whispered, looking back to the crowd that began to swarmed the field. He couldn't believe it...   
  
She was cheering for him...   
  
He didn't understand her...   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


^ . ^

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
She pulled up beside the three story house given to them by the government. She wasn't the kind of person to take the help from others, but Kohaku had insisted on staying there. She caved in the second he pouted. That had been four years ago.   
  
There was a privacy fence built around it, blood red and worn down. The once vibrant flowerbed surrounding the veranda had long since shriveled up and returned to the earth. A lone bench occupied the porch, untouched for years. The shutters were closed, a light pink to the graying house.... It needed a serious paint job.   
  
"You know," Sango mumbled, a joking smile gracing her face, "you could always burn the house down for your next 'pity me stunt'."   
  
He glared, then stomped off toward the house.   
  
"Don't even THINK about it, Kohaku," she warned, knowing his odd behavior.   
  
He threw the door open, causing it to hit the bench and swing full force to swat him in the back. He didn't so much as flinch as the door rebounded off him. "Damn door."   
  
"Watch your mouth!"   
  
He sighed and disappeared threw the doorway. Sango turned to gaze at the neighborhood. The place was a ghost town until Kohaku was home. Now, every person within a mile of the place were lining the streets to cheer for him. She was sick of it. Totally and utterly sick of it...   
  
"Kohaku, I'm going grocery shopping! Need anything?"   
  
When she received no answer, she turned on her heel and stomped away to the silver Corvette in the gravel driveway. Pushing the key into the ignition, she threw the gear in place and sped away, flipping through the radio stations. Finding a song she liked, Sango sang along, wishing her life could be at least half normal.   
  
_ "If there was such a thing as an easy way out   
Of every hard situation I found myself in   
Why is it that I haven't learned it yet   
Why haven't I seen the way yet   
  
I yell inside, yell for some help   
Yell inside to find my own lost self   
The yelling is loud enough to wake the dead   
But I'm alive and fear the dreaming won't end   
  
Walk with me, walk a mile in my shoes and see   
No matter what you think, you'll never know me   
I'm all smiles, all smiles for the world's eyes   
My mind is the only part of me that cries   
  
It cries for a life so much more simple   
A life normal and some what like yours   
Where smiles are real and laughs are too   
When the only things you say are true   
  
I yell inside, yell for some help   
Yell inside to find my own lost self   
The yelling is loud enough to wake the dead   
But I'm alive and fear the dreaming won't end-"_   
  
Sango watched as the car in front of her pulled into a hospital parking lot, then turned her attention to the road ahead of her. What was she going to do...? Kohaku didn't care for her anymore, didn't even acknowledge the hurt she felt when he spoke so harshly...   
  
...If he spoke at all...   
  
"I can't keep him with me forever," she whispered to herself, her eyes misting as she stopped, staring into the red light above her. "I can't hold onto him forever... And he let me go so long ago..."   
  
_"-I want to wake up and learn   
What reality is to you, you know?   
I don't care about my safety   
This is a dream worth letting go   
  
I want to wake from this dream   
That's molded into a endless maze   
I don't want to yell anymore- it hurts   
I don't want to live my life in a daze   
  
I yell inside, yell for some help   
Yell inside to find my own lost self   
The yelling is loud enough to wake the dead   
But I'm alive and fear the dreaming won't end   
  
****** Music Fades in a Chant ******   
  
My voice is breaking beneath you reprimand   
My heart has been shattered by your hand   
My world's ended, good riddance to the bland   
My dream has ended, and I'm ready to stand"_   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


*_*

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Well, well," a teasing voice chuckled, "if it isn't Lieutenant Higurashi. Thought today was your day off."   
  
A woman with jet black hair flowing down her back to stop just under her waist line, wearing a floral sundress with a pair of high-heeled open toe sandals, turned toward the voice. She smirked at the officer behind the work desk, his eyes watching as Nazuna- a new transfer from Kyoto- bent over to retrieve some fallen papers.   
  
"Lieutenant Himitsu, Miroku," she corrected, taping Nazuna on the shoulder. "You shouldn't do that."   
  
"I beg your pardon?" she asked startledly, straightening.   
  
Lieutenant Himitsu pointed to Miroku and watched as the girl paled, then reddened. "Pervert," she hissed before stomping away, leaving the papers on the ground to be trampled.   
  
Lieutenant Himitsu kneeled down and collected the papers, noting they were her own file... Now, what could Nazuna be doing in her folder?   
  
"And today is my day off."   
  
"Kagome?" a voice called quietly to her, unsure of its vision.   
  
The owner of the voice stood in the doorway of an office, holding a coffee mug in his hand. His black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, his violet eyes searching her for some sort of answer. He wore a loose blue uniform, a badge showing proudly, pronouncing his status as Captain. A single piece of golden jewelry wrapped itself around his ring finger.   
  
"Hey," she called, walking over to him and holding out a package in her hand. "Came in the mail... Looks important."   
  
"Who's it from?" he asked, eyeing the box suspiciously.   
  
"Doesn't say." Kagome smiled to herself. She'd ripped the address off. He wouldn't open it if he knew it was from his brother.   
  
"Inuyasha, I'm going on a doughnut break," Miroku called as he felt up an unsuspecting female officer and was given a swat with the end of her flashlight. He fell, unconscious.   
  
The building's occupants shook their heads slowly.   
  
"Pervert."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


^-^

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"I'm going to bed," Sango told her brother tiredly.   
  
Kohaku nodded, flipping through the channels with a vicious snarl on his face. "There isn't anything to watch!"   
  
"I'm sure you'll see yourself in a few minutes," Sango whispered, walking up the stairs, yawning. "Trust me."   
  
He looked to where she had stood only moments ago. He felt lost. Why did she still stay with him when he acted that way, when he was being a jerk? He knew she hated attention, but he loved it! His loved knowing everyone knew him. He loved knowing no matter where he went, someone would be there for him, with him. Just like Sango... But...   
  
Why couldn't he open up to her like he used to? Why couldn't he show he cared anymore? Did he care? Why couldn't he smile- for her and not the camera?   
  
//...I'm I really that heartless...? That bad of a brother...? What happened to me?//   
  
He sneered. She was always in his way! She always stopped him! She... she always cared so much and he pushed away...   
  
//...I don't need her...//   
  
What made him feel this way...? Was the camera that important? Was that what kept him going...?   
  
No...   
  
He sighed, flipping through the channels. Landing on a news station, the game flashed before his eyes...   
  
He felt so lost.   
  
Making sure his sister was indeed in her room, Kohaku pulled his stash of weed out from under the coffee table and eyed it warily... She had gone berserk when she learned of the drugs he'd begun to take.   
  
And the worst thing was, marijuana wasn't the one she'd found him using.   
  
A year ago, Satsuki, an orphan that attended his school, had approached him with her 'products'. He bought it all thinking that if the media found out about him being pushed by school influence to do heroin, marijuana, or acid from the stress, his image would sky rocket.   
  
Sango's reaction had taught him better when she found him shooting up the next day. He wouldn't tell the media... Not if she meant her words...   
  
She did nothing- not immediately after seeing him with the needle in his arm. However, that night, she had held a knife to her own wrist in a threat. "I see it ever again, Kohaku, and you'll be the one to run the blade through."   
  
He didn't doubt her words...   
  
But his feeling confused him...   
  
If he didn't care, why didn't he take that sharp edge and slit her throat instead of the weaker pulse at the wrist?   
  
Again, he eyed the package before crumbling beneath the voice telling him he need it- he need it to keep going...   
  
Maybe this way why...   
  
If he threw it away, would Sango's words start meaning more and the camera become nothing but a ghost in his mind?   
  
No.   
  
He loved the camera even before the drugs had came around. The only cure he could think of was to push his thoughts out of him along with the smoke in his lungs.   
  
He was completely lost in the world and nothing but flashes of life passed before him as the sound of cheering invaded his mind...   
  
The camera, the crowd, the unknown criminal status... That's what kept him going.   
  
That's all he needed to know before lighting up.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


-_-

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Sango cried to herself, keeping her sobs low and unheard by the boy two stories beneath her. She knew what he was doing, she knew what he thought. He knew she couldn't slide that blade across her wrist. What he didn't know was she didn't have to move that glistening, sharp edge to end her life. She was dieing inside anyway.   
  
"I hope, in some way, you are happy," she whispered into her pillow. "If that's the only thing that helps... Oh, I'm so sorry... I guess I wasn't there when you needed it most."   
  
She fell asleep with a stream of tears still flowing down her paled cheeks. A single memory replayed itself in her mind and a single person stood out among the panicked crowd. The face was as pale as hers and as serious as that of her fathers... That person...   
  
Kohaku hadn't been there...   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


-_-

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"What is his purpose this time?" the young woman whispered to herself as she hid in the shadows, watching as the dim light showing through the family room window faded. "Kohaku isn't worth all of this."   
  
She leapt from her spot on the ground to the fence with ease, landing perfectly balanced on the top. Jumping from there to the edge of the boy's bedroom window on the second floor was just as simple.   
  
He hadn't entered his room yet, giving her enough time to slide the window open and slip inside and behind the door. Waiting patiently for the young Wonder Boy, she looked out to the crescent moon.   
  
The door opened, the light switch was flipped, and the boy's world went black as she took her hand away from the pressure point on his neck.   
  
"Sleep sound, Kohaku..."   
  
//... One last thing...//   
  
She sighed, walking silently through the hall and up the stairs to the older sister's room. She paused, a flash of deja vu presenting itself. Kagura shook it off as she completed the task she'd set out to do.   
  
An unaddressed letter was slipped beneath the door.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~   
  
Well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. The song is mine... I have a tendency to write my own poems and songs... Please give a short bit of feed back, via 'review' or email...   
Until then! 


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